Rim-spacing machine



(No ModeI.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

H. T. KINGSBURY. RIM SPAGING MACHINE.

No. 586,441. Patented July 13, 1.897.

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(No model. i 2 SheetsSheet 2. H. T. KINGSBURY.

RIM SPAGING MACHINE.

No. 586,441. Patented July 13,1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY T. KINGSBURY, OF KEEN E, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

RIM-SPACING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 586,441, dated July 13, 1897.

Application filed December 26, 1896. Serial No. 617,064. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HARRY T. KINGSBURY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Keene, in the county of Cheshire, State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rim-Spacing Machines, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

The present invention relates to an improvement in devices for use in spacing or marking off the rims of vehicle-wheels to indicate the places where holes are to be drilled for the reception of spokes, and while the device herein shown has been designed especially for the use of bicycle manufacturers, dealers, and repair men it will be understood that it is adapted to the general use of wheel- Wrights and manufacturers of vehicles.

The object is to provide a light portable machine which will be comparatively inexpensive to make, which can be adapted for use in spacing rims of any size and material and upon which a wood or metal rim for a bicycle-wheel of the standard sizes may be spaced in about thirty seconds, while the work of spacing the rims ordinarily occupies from fifteen to thirty minutes.

The invention includes, primarily, a rimholding chuck or other device, an indezoplate graduated to correspond with the number of spokes to be placed in a rim, and a device adapted to engage the index-plate and alternately engage and release it as it rotates.

Secondly, it comprises a rim-holding device, an annular index-plate provided with notches or perforations, corresponding in number to the number of spokes to be placed on a rim, and a pawl or catch adapted to successively engage said notches or perforations as the index-plate revolves.

Thirdly, it comprises a rim-holding device, an annular index-plate provided with a series of concentric rows of notches or perforations and a pawl or catch adjustable to register with any one of the series and adapted in the rotation of the index-plate to successively engage the notches or perforations of that series with which it has been adjusted to register.

Finally, it consists in various details of construction and arrangements of parts, all

as hereinafter described, and referred to in the appended claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a face view of the device set up in operative position. Fig. 2 is a view representing the apparatus in various detached parts. Fig. 3 is a section on line 3 3, Fig. 1. Fig. t represents a side view of the catch which holds the index-plate in proper position and its operating parts. Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the manner in which the spring pawl or catch engages the notches or perforations in the index-plate.

In the drawings, A represents a suitable vertical backing or framework upon which the device as a whole is supported. Secured upon this supporting backing is a casting B, having a widened lower portion 1 screwed to the part A and having an upwardly-extending part 2, said parts 1 and 2 each having an eye 3, one above the other, through which eyes passes a rod 4. Cast integral with the part 1 is a vertical part- 5, notched on its edge, as shown, and marked opposite each notch with a number, the numbers running according to the number of spokes ordinarily placed on bicycle-wheels of standard make.

0 represents a casting having lugs 6, with eyes embracing the rod 4 and swinging thereon, said casting forming a pivoted lever having a handle or finger-piece a normally engaging one of the notches above referred to and having on its lower portion a catch m, for a purpose hereinafter described. This lever C is movable up and down on the rod 4 and is normally spring-pressed outwardly by the spring 7, as shown in Fig. 2.

Adjustably secured by the thumb-screw t to the part B is an arm or rod 1), havinga hook 8 at its upper end fitting down over the rim to be spaced and forming a guide to indicate where the rim is to be marked, by leadpencil or otherwise, to show where it is tobe bored for a spoke.

Extending outwardly from the lower part 2 of the casting B is a shaft or axle f, upon which is fitted what I call the index-plate D. This index-plate D, as herein shown, is

an annular casting and is provided with a series of concentric rows y of perforations 9,

the second twenty-eight, the third thirty-two, the fourth thirty-six, and the fifth forty, the number of perforations corresponding to the number of spokes to be placed in a rim; but it will be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the precise construction of indexplate herein shown, as a series of notched or perforated rings may be used, the term index-plate meaning, broadly, a device having means which in its rotations are successively engaged by a pawl or stop device, whereby the point at which a spoke is to be placed may be indicated.

The index-plate D has inwardlyextending arms 10, upon which are formed lugs 71,. The rim-holding device or chuck E is composed of four radial arms F, formed at their outer ends to embrace a wheel-rim and having slots 11, through which they are bolted to have a sliding connection with the outwardly-extending arms 12 on the index-plate D. The radial arms F are placed in positions inside of the lugs 71, and the plate 0 is then slipped over the axle, its radial lugs 13 being screwed to the lugs h.

G represents the handle of the device, which is provided with two recesses 14:, in which recesses fit the lugs 15 on the pinion d, which is supported by the axle f and which is engaged by the racks 16 on the inner ends of the radial arms F.

The parts are all secured in position by the nut g, which is screwed onto the axle f.

The handle G is provided with a dog or lug 17, which in the rotation of the handle to force out the arms F slips over the teeth 18 on theplate 0, but prevents any receding of the arms without withdrawing said lug from engagement with the teeth. The parts having been assembled and the rim properly chucked, the handle a is set in the proper notch of the scale, which brings the catch a: into engagement with the proper row of the series of notches or perforations on the indexplate, and in the rotation of the device as a whole the catch a: will successively engage the perforations in the row with which it is in alinement and thus stop the device and allow the operator to mark on the rim at each stopping-point to indicate where a hole is to be drilled for a spoke.

Various minor modifications and changes in the construction of this device may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a wheel-rim-holding device of an annular index-plate provided with a series of concentric rows of perforations arranged according to the number of spokes to be inserted in the rim and a catch or stop device adapted to be set to succes sively engage the perforations of any one row of said series, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a wheel-rim-holding device,ot an annular index-plate provided with a series of concentric rows of perforations and a stop or catch device adjustable radially of said index-plate and adaptedin the rotation of the latter to successively engage the perforations of that row with which 4. The combination with a wheel-rim-holding chuck, of a rotatable index plate, a spring-catch engaging the same, a scale-plate with which said catch also engages, and an adjustable rod or arm 1) adapted to bear against the rim held on the chuck, substantially as described. I

5. In the herein-described device a rotata ble index-plate, radial arms having a sliding engagement with said index-holding plate, means for operating said arms to cause them to simultaneously embrace or release the rim of a wheel and a spring catch or pawl adapted to engage the index-plate and successively to engage and release it as it rotates, substantially as described.

6. In the herein-described device the supporting-plate provided with a suitable axle, the index-plate thereon provided with lugs, the plate 0 secured to said index-plate, the radial rim-holding arms confined at one end within the lugs of the index-plate and having a sliding connection at their outer ends with said index-plate, means for expanding and retracting said radial arms and a spring pawl or catch normally engaging the index-plate and alternately stopping and releasing it as it rotates, substantially as described.

7. The combination with a rotatable wheelrim-holding device having a series of rows of perforations corresponding in number to the number of spokes to be placed on the rim, of a device for engaging successively the perforations of any one row to automatically stop the wheel -rim supporting device, substantially as described.

8. A wheel-rim-holding chuck comprising an annular rim with inwardly-extending arms provided with lugs, outwardly extending arms, radial rim-holding arms having a sliding connection with the outwardly-extending arms, a plate 0 secured to the lugs on the inwardly-extending arms by which the inner ends of the radial arms are confined, apinion engagingracks on the inner ends of said radial arms and means for rotating said pinion to expand or retract the radial arms, substantially as described.

9. A wheel-rim-holding chuck comprising an annular rim with inwardly-extending arms provided with lugs, outwardly extending arms, radial rim-holding arms having a sliding connection with the outwardly-extending arms, a plate a secured to the lugs on the inwardly-extending arms by which the inner ends of the radial arms are confined, a pinion engaging racks on the inner ends of said radial arms and means for rotating said pinion to 'eXpand or retract the radial arms, comprising a handle engaging said pinion and having a lug on the inner side adapted to engage teeth on the plate a, substantially as described.

10. The herein-described wheel-rim-holding chuck comprising an annular plate having a series of graduations, radially-extending arms having a sliding connection with said plate, said radial arms being provided at their inner ends with rack-teeth, a single pinion engaging all of said rack-teeth and means for operating said pinion, and astop device engaging said graduations substantially as described.

11. The herein-described wheel-rim-holding chuck comprising an annular plate, ra-

dially-extending arms having a sliding connection with said plate, said radial arms being provided at their inner ends with rackteeth, a pinion engaging said rack-teeth, and having oppositely-extending lugs, and a handle provided with recesses within which said lugs fit, substantially as described.

12. The combination with a rotatable wheelrim-holding device of an index-plate graduated according to the number of spokes to be inserted in the rim and rotating with said wheel-rim-holding device, of a stop device independent of the rotating index-plate but adapted in the rotation thereof to successively engage the graduations and stop the plate, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

HARRY T. KINGSBURY.

WVitnesses:

W. L. MASON, J. M. CONNOR. 

